Estée Lauder Brings Tech to Former Fashion Strip

Ladies’ Mile, the section of 23rd Street that became a department-store Mecca in the late 19th century, is pivoting from an out-of-vogue retail district into an extension of Silicon Alley.

In the latest sign of the strip’s technology-focused transformation, Estee Lauder, a New York-based cosmetics brand, is set to move offices for its online business into an entire floor of the former Stern Brothers’ department store, according to one of the partners in the building, Andrew Roos, of Colliers International.

Employees of the division will be focused on marketing the 66-year-old brand through social media, said Robert Shapiro, of Grubb & Ellis, the broker for Estee Lauder.